Then the devil took Jesus up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: 'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'"  

As Batman dealt with the negative elements of Gotham City in the movie "The Dark Knight," his principal opponent was the person who called himself "The Joker," a diabolic mentally sick man who wanted to do only one thing, namely, promote the cause of evil. Because of a horrible childhood, The Joker was interested in revenge, taken out on humankind, and on Batman in particular, in any form that he could create. Bruce Wayne/Batman's attendant, Alfred, commented that a man like The Joker does evil only for sport. The Joker says of himself: "I'm an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos? It's fair." In the mind of evil, chaos is fair because it has its chance to destroy just as something good has its chance to create. A person who is committed to good must constantly confront the evil, recognizing that evil is conquered only by continually working for the good, that is by accepting the role of "an agent of good."     

As Matthew understood the temptations of Jesus, one of them was the temptation to absolute power--I will give you all the "kingdoms of the world," Satan said. With such power, of course, a person could do anything that he/she wants. To give into the temptation is nothing more than accepting "chaos" as a principle of life because it would disrupt everything, making everything the selfish objects of the one who has the power. Jesus understood the ploy of the evil one, telling him that the secret of life is worship of God. Fundamentally, choosing to serve God is choosing to become "an agent of good."

What does becoming an agent of good consist of? Primarily, it means putting things into proper perspective. For Batman, the perspective was being decent and helpful to the world around him, and eventually bringing peace. For the Christian, being an agent of good includes all of that, but adds the over-all guide of acknowledging that God is the only one who can bring about the good.

We live in a world that is in many ways nothing but chaos, chaos caused by people who want power. They want the power to control everything around them, making everyone subject to them in a sense, wanting others to serve them. When several such people exist in the world, chaos results because there are many masters who are searching for the same absolute power. In the midst of all of that chaos, if the world is to survive, there must be people who understand that they have only one master who calls everyone to be good. It means that the followers of such a master become agents of good, people dedicated to bringing about good in every situation in which they find themselves. 

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, the evil of our world wants to control every situation to its own advantage. Your Son has shown us the way to combat such an evil, namely, by worshiping you alone, and following your law to be agents of good in our world. Give us the grace to follow your Son. Be with us, we pray. 

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©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America